


My Atlantis

by Talinor



Series: Keitor Week 2017 [8]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bittersweet Ending, Bonding, M/M, Post-Season 4
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-05
Updated: 2017-11-05
Packaged: 2019-01-29 18:19:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12636576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Talinor/pseuds/Talinor
Summary: Keitor Week- Day 8: What If...?He looked to Lotor with concern. "Why do you-""Keith," Lotor cut in softly. "Touch me.""What?"





	My Atlantis

**Author's Note:**

> what's the 'what if' of the prompt?  
> the only way to find that out is to read it  
> enjoy!

Keith walked through the dead night halls of the Castle with practiced ease. He'd done so many nights before- countless hours had been spent wandering the quiet corners and finding new little nooks and crannies each time. It was both wonderful and unsettling at the same time, wrapped up in a single package. It made him feel like a ghost, shackled with sleeplessness and stuck in the eon-old ship for what felt like eternity.

He never really had a set designation. Just kind of... wandered about, let his instincts guide him to a place worthy of his sleep-deprived attention. Even when he didn't feel tired at all, like tonight. He didn't bother to wonder why. It had become a strange pattern nowadays- he couldn't remember ever going to sleep anymore, and yet he still never felt tired.

This night, he found himself drifting towards the control room. The door was already open for him as he got closer to it, revealing a window view into the actual room. The star maps were out, drifting about the entire room. They cast a soft blue light on a lone figure, sitting below the power crystal.

Judging from the long silky-looking white hair and the elegant clawed purple hands hugging their own frame tensely, Keith immediately knew who it was. An exiled Prince. A fugitive of the Galra Empire. Their unlikeliest ally. A friend he'd been hesitant to make at first, but one he still found himself considering as a friend nonetheless.

"Lotor," he said softly, passing through the doorway to get to his side. His brows creased in concern when he saw Lotor's face. The smoothness of his skin was wrinkled with a deep-seeded melancholy. Tear tracks were still fresh upon his face. Shining blue irises and golden sclera looked to him with the same kind of sadness. "What's wrong?" He sat down next to Lotor, hesitant to actually touch him. "Are you homesick or... something?"

 _God,_ he was bad at this.

Lotor chuckled softly, yet his face was devoid of all humor or lightheartedness. "No," he assured Keith, wiping the tears off of his face. "Nothing like that, it's just..." He reached out to pull an astral projection towards them. A small bright purple planet, wrapped with two slanted parallel rings, answered his nonverbal call. It drifted into his awaiting hand and became larger, showing a much more detailed picture of it. A small box of Altean text popped up next to it- information about the planet in question.

"Naxzela," Keith read aloud. 

Which was... strange, considering he never really bothered to learn Altean. But now, it was like his mind translated it for him. It looked like the usual symbols he couldn't decipher for a few seconds before shifting, changing into English. 

It wasn't really anything but statistics and a few bits of information about it. Nothing to note, other than it used to be a Galran colony before Voltron liberated it. That, and the fact that it was essentially a highly-explosive bomb planet capable of wiping out 10 solar systems when set off.

"Indeed," Lotor said with a slight nod. "I've never really been separated from a home worthy of missing, so it's not homesickness I suffer from. Just... allowing myself to remember a few friends I have lost along the way." 

"Ah," Keith nodded in understanding. That mission had quite a high death toll. "Lost them in this mission, I'm guessing?"

He shook his head. "No," he said. "I lost them just a bit before this. Most of them not to death, but to betrayal. I'd... rather not talk about it, if that's alright by you."

"Okay," Keith said. That notion was pretty understandable, considering. "But... what does Naxzela have to do with losing a friend of yours, then?" He paused for a moment before adding something else. "If you want to talk about it, of course." Lotor might have Zarkon's DNA, but he wasn't like his father. Keith actually cared what he thought. He didn't want to risk offending him.

"It's quite alright," Lotor assured him. "Your curiosity is understandable, considering your..." He looked Keith up and down with a hint of... something. Something Keith couldn't decipher. "Situation. You deserve to know." He turned to face the planet projection. "I don't bring up Naxzela because I mourn for someone I knew," he started to explain, a far-off look in his eyes. "It's because I mourn for someone I _could_ have known. Before something... happened to them during that battle."

"Really?" Keith asked. He had to admit, he was a little bit interested. There had to be more to that answer. He leaned closer to Lotor. "What do you mean by that? Who are you talking about?"

Lotor looked to him sadly. He didn't say anything to answer those questions. He didn't need to. His expression said it all.

"...Oh," Keith said quietly. "Wait, what?" His brows furrowed. "Nothing happened to me there, Lotor. I'm right here. Why are you mourning for someone you could have known when you already _do_ know me?" It just... didn't make any _sense_ in his mind. "Why are you-"

Lotor raised a brow. "What do you remember of the Naxzela mission, Keith? Tell me what you personally remember of it, not any statistics."

"I..." He started to speak, but stopped right in his tracks. It was like his mind felt... _compelled_ by a simple request to search through his memory for anything personal pertaining to the battle for Naxzela. "I was... flying. Piloting some kind of ship. That's... _weird,_ it's all murky. Nothing viable available at this time." His brows furrowed. What did he just say? He looked to Lotor with concern. "Why do you-"

"Keith," Lotor cut in softly. "Touch me."

"What?"

"You heard what I said," he told Keith. "Touch me if you don't understand what I mean." He held up a hand in offering. "If you don't understand why I'm asking this of you." He let their eyes meet. "Trust me on this, Keith. It will have your answer, even if it's likely not the one you want."

Keith... didn't really understand what he meant by all this. But he did trust Lotor, and he definitely wanted to know what he'd meant. There was only one way to find out for sure. He reached out to grasp at Lotor's hand. 

And stared in surprise as he watched his own hand fizzle right through the fine-looking skin. His hand glitched, showing the reddish-purple projection lines for a split second. That's all it took before he moved his hand away as if he'd been burned. It shifted back into a realistic looking hand once again, but he was starting to realize the truth.

"Lotor," he said evenly, desperate to stay calm despite the emotions popping and fizzing like live wires. "What am I?"

"A developing AI," Lotor answered, looking at him sympathetically. "A collection of both the Black and Red Lions' memories of you inputted into the Castle's system, given how you piloted them at one point before your unfortunate end. You weren't when you actually died, however." He looked up to the projection of Naxzela. "Zarkon's witch had activated the planet. It was nearly ready to explode and wipe out all the rebel forces in one fell swoop. Your weapons wouldn't break through her ship's shielding in time."

Keith was silent as he spoke, stuck between staring at himself and Naxzela.

"Until you crashed your hijacked Galra cruiser into it," Lotor finally finished. "Moments before I arrived to deliver the finishing blow." He saw Lotor's face fall. "I was not quick enough to save you. And knowing you now, I must say..." He moved to Keith's holographic side with a bittersweet smile. "That's the biggest tragedy of my life."

**Author's Note:**

> what if... Lotor was too late?  
> sorry not sorry  
> comments are always appreciated!  
> my tumblr: squishy--squish


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